For nearly six seasons, Stajan lived out the dream of many kids from Mississauga, Ontario: getting to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Drafted by Toronto in the second round (No. 57) of the 2002 NHL Draft, the playmaking center had 223 points in 445 games before being traded to the Calgary Flames for Dion Phaneuf on Jan. 31, 2010.

Stajan showed a willingness to adapt and take on a checking role, and was entrusted by the Flames with taking crucial faceoffs in the defensive zone. In 2014-15, he helped the Flames make the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in six seasons.

In Game 6 of the first round against the Vancouver Canucks, he snapped the puck past goalie Ryan Miller late in the third period to break a tie and send the Flames to a 7-4, series-clinching victory. It was Stajan's first NHL playoff goal after 774 regular-season games in the League.

Stajan and his wife, Katie, live in Calgary, where they are active in the community and involved with various charities. On Jan. 3, 2015 they hosted "A Night Under the Stars," an event that raised over $100,000 for the neonatal intensive care unit at Calgary's Foothills Medical Centre and the Emerson Stajan Centre Foundation. It was held in memory of their son Emerson, who died in 2014, shortly after he was born.